TREE-PLANTING. 25 



to the situation of the dwelling and out-buildings. 

 Having removed those obviously unworthy to re- 

 main, I should put in the axe very thoughtfully 

 among the finer specimens, remembering that I 

 should be under the soil before Nature could build 

 others like them. 



In the fitting up of this planet as the home of 

 mankind it would appear that the Creator regarded 

 the coniferae, or evergreen family, as well worthy of 

 attention ; for almost from the first, according to 

 geologists, this family records on the rocky tablets 

 of the earth its appearance, large and varied de- 

 velopment, and its adaptation to each change in 

 climate and condition of the globe's surface during 

 the countless ages of preparation. Surely, there- 

 fore, he who is evolving a home on one acre of the 

 earth's area cannot neglect a genus of trees that 

 has been so signally honored. Evergreens will 

 speedily banish the sense of newness from his 

 grounds; for by putting them about his door he 

 has added the link which connects his acre with 

 the earliest geological record of tree-planting. 

 Then, like Diedrich Knickerbocker, who felt that 

 he must trace the province of New York back to 

 the origin of the universe, he can look upon his 

 coniferae and feel that his latest work is in accord 

 with one of the earliest laws of creation. I im- 

 agine, however, that my readers' choice of ever- 



